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It’ll all come out in the wash: Whirlpool wins small victory over SK rivals
An apparent victory for Whirlpool, the US appliance manufacturer, over South Korean rivals on Wednesday.
In a preliminary finding announced on Wednesday by the US Commerce Department, Whirlpool’s claim that its South Korean rivals were selling washers in the US for less than production costs was accepted. The company argued that Korean manufacturers have benefited from unfair government subsidies. Continue reading »
Further reading: going lower
Thursday’s top reads from the BB team: Putin’s people and the US ambassador; Brazil’s low rates and India’s low growth; Luxury brands come but FDI goes in China; and Mongolia is not Qatar. Plus: will Mexico’s youth decide the presidential race? Continue reading »
India GDP growth lowest since 2003
Last time it was supposed to be hitting bottom – but it turns out the Indian economy had lower depths to plumb. It grew just 5.3 per cent in the quarter ending in March, well below expectations and the 6.1 per cent growth rate for the previous quarter. It was the lowest quarterly growth in 9 years, far below the same quarter in 2011, which registered 9.2 per cent growth.
GDP growth for the fiscal year ending in March fell to 6.5 per cent – below the 6.7 per cent that had been expected – highlighting the dire state of the Indian economy, according to data released by the ministry of statistics on Thursday. The rupee reached a new all-time low of Rs56.52 against the dollar. Continue reading »
[snap] India GDP growth down to 5.3%
India’s GDP growth fell to 5.3 per cent in the quarter that ended in March – and 6.5 per cent in the fiscal year that ended in March – well below expectations of 6-6.1 per cent, according to data released by the ministry of statistics.
The sub-6 per cent figure further highlighted the dire state of the Indian economy – on Thursday the rupee hit yet another life low, at Rs56.52 against the dollar in early trading.
Felda presses on with blockbuster IPO
One IPO bites the dust, while plans for an even bigger one are dusted off.
Hours after Graff Diamonds, purveyor of high-end jewellery, pulled its $1bn IPO from the Hong Kong market, Malaysia’s prime minister was unveiling the prospectus for a blockbuster 10.2bn ringgit ($3.2bn) on Bursa Malaysia. This time the issuer is the biggest company you’ve never heard of: Felda, one of the world’s largest palm oil producers. Continue reading »
London headlines
* Brazil cuts interest rate to record low
* Chevron sued in Canada over Ecuador case
* India to seek $7bn in taxes for past deals Continue reading »
[snap] Philippines GDP +6.4% in Q1
The Philippine economy beat expectations in the first quarter, growing 6.4 per cent compared to forecasts of 4.5-5 per cent. That means the Philippines grew faster than Indonesia.
Investors are already piling in, making the Manila equity market the second best performer in Asia after Vietnam this year. Read our story on predictions of an investment boom in the country here.
Brazil cuts rates. Now what?
The Brazilian central bank’s 50 basis point reduction in its benchmark Selic interest rate on Wednesday night, taking it to a record low of 8.5 per cent, could hardly have been more widely anticipated by economists.
In a unanimous vote, the bank’s monetary policy committee cited the limitations to the upward trajectory of inflation domestically and the disinflationary winds sweeping in from a weak global economy. Continue reading »
Paraguay gets a futures market
Argentina seems to have developed a new export line: futures markets know-how.
After a deal earlier this year to set up a futures exchange in Uruguay (a joint venture between Argentina’s commodity derivatives exchange MATBa and the Uruguayan bourse), Argentina’s futures and options exchange Rofex is now helping Paraguay establish its first futures market. Continue reading »
Brazil: what happened to credit growth?
When the Brazilian government was faced with the financial crisis of 2009, it used a potent recipe to reignite the economy, one of whose main ingredients was credit growth. This year, however, credit seems to have gone into hiding. Continue reading »
Brussels to Hungary: you stick, we twist
Valuable EU funds worth €495m will be available to Hungary in 2013, after the European Commission on Wednesday recommended lifting the funds suspension when it grudgingly accepted that Budapest had made sufficient efforts to meet budget deficit targets.
But the recommendation acknowledged that Hungary’s efforts were party due to one-off measures – which was part of the reason for suspending the funds in the first place. When it comes to Hungary and the EU, the rules of the game don’t always make sense. Continue reading »
Nigerian banks: staying healthy
The turnaround for Nigeria’s banks has been dramatic, if a little costly. Bailouts, mergers, the formation of a bad bank. Total bill? $21.5bn.
But it looks like it is starting to pay off. After Standard and Poor’s tentative thumbs up earlier this year, the first quarter figures and 2011 full year numbers for nine of Nigeria’s banks are something to cheer. Continue reading »
Warsaw exchange: pushing for a bigger regional role
The Warsaw Stock Exchange has long been hungry to play a role beyond just Poland – the peripatetic chief executive Ludwik Sobolewski has illustrated that in his attempts pull in new listings from across the region. Now the exchange is making that formal by launching a new WIG-CEE index.
The index can include companies from a country with at least two listings on the WSE as long as they come from different sectors. The 25-company list includes firms from the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Hungary, Estonia, Bulgaria and Lithuania. Continue reading »
Taste of Brazil goes global
Brazilians and other lovers of the country and its culinary culture living abroad will have been pleased to read this week about the internationalisation of Ypióca and Fogo de Chão – well-known brands of cachaça, a sugar cane spirit, and churrascaria, a grill restaurant.
But many expats and fellow travellers in the UK missing the real taste of Brazil will have been much more excited by another recent development. This is the sensational news (at least for one corner of beyondbrics and associated Brazilian wife and daughters) that to find everyday products like Guaraná Antartica, Camil black beans and Yoki pão de queijo mix, you need go no further than Tesco (here, here and here). Continue reading »
Gazprom: beset by eurozone and more
Gazprom has been complaining that the eurozone crisis is reducing energy demand in its core export market. But the economic slowdown in Europe is only one of many problems besetting Russia’s gas monopoly and they can’t all be blamed on Brussels.
“I think you can all see the economic crisis in the eurozone is having a significant impact on energy demand because energy is a litmus test, an indicator of economic health,” Alexei Miller, Gazprom’s chief executive (pictured), told reporters in the Siberian city of Omsk on Wednesday. Continue reading »
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